History

The birth of Archibald Seymour was celebrated amongst the gentry of England, for finally, the Duke of Somerset and his wife had welcomed a child - and a son at that! You'd have thought that such adoration and joyous occasion would mean that the boy would be offered every sweetness, that he'd be bestowed a happy and loving childhood that'd then produce a healthy and well rounded man of society.

But that was never going to be the case. The late Duke of Somerset had been a hard man, a man who had been raised by a harder father. This treatment between father and son was repeated generation after generation - and so, the relationship between Archibald and his papa was no different. As soon as he was weaned from the breast of a wet nurse, the young boy was sent to a governor who’d secure an education worthy of a future Duke. This solitude and lack of parenting cultivated Archibald into a cold and quiet child who’d often break into violent fits of rages if anything either didn’t go his way or if someone looked at him the wrong way. Despite this, he often was found defending the reputation of his family. When old enough to understand his place in society, Archibald reflected on how he had ended up in a sort of boarding school aged just five years old. His father, the Duke, often worked hard to secure his rightful place by the sovereign’s feet. His mother, a Howard descendent, was elsewhere. Rumour had it that the Duke had put her into an asylum soon after Archibald’s birth - but he paid little heed to that.

At school he excelled at physical sports, engaging himself with horse racing, fencing, boxing and various races that’d leave him red-faced and out of breath. Academically, he troubled over equations and literature - often daydreaming or instead making havoc for his class. His noise and violence soon lead Archibald to be expelled from various boarding schools, often leaving him with private tutors who’d only turn their noses up to the young boy. Friendship, it seemed, was not suited to the Seymour boy. That was till he was enrolled into the prestigious Harrow School where he became a respected (or feared) figure of boyhood.

Though he could not ever get the hang of academia, his father managed to pull enough strings to have his son enrolled into Trinity College where he was to study history and the classics. University offered Archibald freedom, leaving the cord between father and son to loosen as he cut his name to go by Archie to his peers, and delved deep into the hedonistic lifestyle that young boys often stray towards. Alcohol and laudanum were his greatest vices - often skipping lessons and even social hours to indulge in fantasy and sordid dreams. Around this time he also discovered the power of being a future Duke, that hung heavy over the heads of prospective young women and even the boys he thought were his equals.

With little work done, his father once more paid a generous donation to the University so that his only child could graduate with flying colours. But, aged just 20, Archie lost his father to illness and suddenly he was no longer the famed Playboy of Oxford but was instead a famed and righteous Duke of Somerset. With his inheritance, he moved to London and sought the companionship of a peer’s younger sister Mary, who was often claimed to be the most beautiful of the emerging debutantes. Without wasting time, and eager to settle his persona into the upper class hierarchy (after all, were you ever going to be taken seriously without a wife?)Archibald and Mary got married. Living in Somerset House, the prestigious home where the Duke would often live to do his business in the city, Archibald tried his best to act the proper husband. But fidelity had never been his strong point.

Rumour had it that his mother, a woman he had not really met outside of society affairs, committed suicide at the prospect of being sent to the famed Bedlam. Archibald arranged for her burial in the family plot, but it seemed that not a tear was shed - even after losing both parents within months of one another. With his life now set before him, the young Duke went ahead with travelling between the Duchy of Somerset and London - his wife was sent to the country, to prepare for the ultimate role of motherhood, as Archibald resumed his various affairs and hedonistic late nights that left him almost paralysed upon London’s grimy streets. It was but five years after their wedding that Mary finally fell pregnant (though you could blame the lateness on Archibald’s utter refusal to spend time with his wife).

Archibald had decided to do more than what his father, grandfather and every other father in his house had done. He had sworn to himself to provide, to care or to at least listen to his future children. So when Mary grew plump, Archibald moved to the country - instead choosing to mentally prepare for the babe. Lost in anxiety and perhaps fear that he would fail his task, he almost missed the fatal birth that brought on a fear upon Mary’s golden head - leaving her to die a mere hour after Archibald’s firstborn’s birth.

The birth was marred, but the young Duke would’ve been lying if he had confessed to ever loving his wife. So he turned and instead held his child, that just so happened to be a daughter, in his arms. As father and babe, Archibald prepared a magnificent nursery and invited various prospective godmothers to his Somerset estates - in which soon, Archibald would question what it meant to be a father.

A widower and father, society pushed him to remarry. When his daughter was two, he arranged to meet the daughter of an influential household who boasted just as much beauty as his late wife. The wedding was pushed forward, and a formal adoption was instructed between the new stepmother and daughter. But his passion for fatherhood and love itself had waned. Though the marriage itself was fruitful and solid in the eyes of society, Archibald fell deeper into the hellfire, and soon became a ghost of a boy aged 27.

As luck would have it, in some cruel mockery of fate’s renewal, Archibald lost his second wife in the child bed as he received the long awaited son into his arms. Archibald Edward Alfred Seymour, known personally as Teddy, would also grow ill with a near constant ear infection that threatened his hearing — a reality that seemed a fit of jest to the Duke who had thought the son would end the internal misery of his future. Things had not improved with his on-off relationship with an old crush and old friend, the Duchess of Devonshire, who had quite harmed his sense of self with an act of outrageous infidelity. Restoring his confidence and way of life in the countryside with his family, he emerges into the 1888 society preparing for the debut of his oldest daughter, and to perhaps entertain the slight idea of matrimony once more.

TIMELINE

1843 Born to the 12th Duke of Somerset on January 3rd, later baptized at St George’s Chapel, Windsor
1846 His mother, Charlotte Hamilton, is diagnosed with Hysteria and spends most of her time with her family health spas, Archibald is sent to Somerset Place, London, to attend various tutors who never seem to handle Archibald’s outrageous behavior very well
1856 Enrolled into Harrow School, he is threatened with expulsion various times but always returned due to his father’s bribes
1858 His mother is reported to befall fits of hysteria which pushes the 12th Duke to refer her to the safety of Bethlem Hospital for lengthy periods of time
1861 Matriculated to Trinity College, where he studied History and the Classics, began to take laudanum on a regular basis
1864 Graduated despite performing poorly, the same year his father dies aged 38, leaving Archibald to inherit the Dukedom and all ancestral properties, he attends the funeral of Prince Albert in the same year
1865 Marries Mary Graham at Berry Pomeroy Castle, they honeymoon in Venice before she stays at Bradley House whilst Archibald, more often than not, spends his time in London at Somerset House
1867 Though Archibald has tried to get his mother out of Bethlem Hospital since the death of his father, news arrives that Charlotte Hamilton has committed suicide whilst in their care, Archibald plans to sue…. To little avail
1869 Turns his attention to horse breeding and racing whilst becoming the patron of Ascot Race Tracks
1871 Hermione Jane is born in February, Mary Graham dies shortly aged 26 after from complications and is buried at the Bradley House memorial tomb
1873 Archibald meets Vesperina Sheridan through mutual friends when she is declared the Queen of Beauty at a local party… They seek the approval of the Queen before marrying at Somerset House in a hugely decadent affair which involves royal guests and hugely disapproving rumours of true deviant acts
1874 Attends the wedding of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna or Russia in Saint Petersburg before accompanying the Tsar Alexander II of Russia on his first state visit to Great Britain as an honorary ‘ambassador’ to the country
1877 Victoria Ulrica is born at Berry House
1883 Clementine Desdemona is born at Bradley House
1885 Archibald Edward Alfred is born at Bradley House, Vesperina dies a day or two later aged 36 and is buried in the family tomb, to escape the ghosts the Duke purchases Stourhead House and moves his family there